


Heroes of their own stories

by Aragarna



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Crack, F/F, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Meta, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:40:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25595170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aragarna/pseuds/Aragarna
Summary: Chapter one: Kidnapped, shot, and on the verge of drowning. John is having one of those days...Now with a second chapter, where it's Root's turn to write a fic. And naturally, it's a Shoot fic.
Relationships: Lionel Fusco & John Reese, Root | Samantha Groves/Sameen Shaw
Comments: 14
Kudos: 18





	1. Wonderboy

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to st_aurafina for the beta and cheerleading!

John came to his senses disoriented. He opened his eyes and saw nothing but pitch dark. He was lying on a hard surface and movement made him jump and roll. This and the unmistakable sound of a motor indicated he was in a moving vehicle. Though he had no memory of how he got there, the ties binding his hands behind his back and the hood over his head presumably meant he had been abducted.

John took the risk to sit up and waited to see if anyone reacted to him being awake. When he was confident no one was watching him, he wriggled to pass his tied hands under his legs, to move them from behind to in front of him. With more freedom of movement, he took off the hood. He was indeed in the back of a van, whose windows had been painted in black. Two men were occupying the two front seats, and neither of them seemed to be paying attention to him.

Their mistake, John thought.

The vehicle was going at a rather fast but steady speed. Staying low and moving in silence so as not to attract his abductors’ attention, John carefully approached the front side of the van. He laid against the back of the driver’s seat and took a deep breath.

He jumped and grabbed the handbrake. Before his abductors had the chance to react to his intrusion, the van toppled and rolled over twice. John had a lot of experience in the matter, but it still wasn’t a particularly pleasant experience.

The van finally stopped, landing on its roof. John knocked down a window with his heels and crawled out of the van. Ignoring the aches and pains from all over his body, John got back on his feet as fast as he could and started running. Thankfully, the zipties had snapped in the violence of the crash, giving him more freedom of movement. Which was good, given that the kidnappers were now shooting at him.

[ _insert description of the pier_ ]

A bullet hit him on his left side. Surprised by the impact, John tripped and, losing his footing, he fell into the water. He barely managed to inhale a full gulp of air before hitting the surface and disappearing under water. The harbor water was dark and cold, and bullets were flying around him, forcing John to dive deeper. He swam as far away as he could from the pier. Each movement was tearing a bit more at the wound on his side but he kept swimming under water until he was on the brink of passing out from lack of oxygen. Then, with a swift move of the heels, he sprung up and broke the surface inhaling air from the top of his lungs. The good news was that the two goons were nowhere in sight. The bad news was that the harbor current had carried him way farther from the shore than he had anticipated. Afraid that his kidnappers would be waiting for him at the pier, John opted for returning to the nearby beach instead. Usually, John wouldn’t have had too much trouble swimming the distance. He was a decent swimmer, and he certainly had stamina. But after a car crash and with a bullet wound to his side, he could feel exhaustion gaining faster than it should.

[ _John struggles in the water. Maybe a storm is coming and waves are getting bigger_ ]

On the brink of exhaustion, John was losing grip of his consciousness. Unable to keep a steady head above the surface, he was swallowing more and more water with each wave passing by, until he finally went under.

Slowly sinking to the bottom, John watched as the surface getting further and further away, when suddenly, he became aware of a shadow in the distance to his right. Growing bigger, the shadow gradually came into focus, taking the shape of a mermaid - no, a merman. His human half was one of a rather stocky man with short curly hair and brown eyes, while his fish half was made of a long green tail, with a rainbow iridescence.

The merman swam gracefully toward John, who had just passed out. Grabbing him gently under the arms, the creature brought him back to the surface [ _scratch that, how do you do CPR in the middle of the water?_ ] the creature brought him to a sandy beach where he -

* * *

“A mermaid, seriously Lionel?!”

Startled by John’s interruption, Lionel put one arm in front of his computer screen while fumbling with the mouse to lower the Word window as fast as possible. He had instantly turned crimson red.

“Don’t you have a report to write?” he retorted to his way-to-curious partner, who had managed to sneak up on him as he was trying to discreetly work on his Big Bang story.

“Don’t _you_ have a report to write, Mr. Mermaid?”

“Technically, it’s a merman,” Lionel muttered.

John walked to his desk and leaned back on his chair. He bit his tongue not to burst into laugher in the middle of the precinct.

“I swear to God, Mr. Peeping, if you ever talk to anyone, either here at the precinct or to your team of ill-adjusted lunatics, I’ll find a way to kill you.”

John raised a dubious eyebrow before turning more serious.

“So, what is that?” he asked.

“I’m writing a fic for the Big Bang coming up.”

John winced. “I feel bad for my fictional self. Given how much you’ve inflicted him in just one page, I can’t imagine what you’ll do in ten thousand words...”

“Twenty thousand and counting,” Lionel countered, quite proud of his accomplishments. “I’m also hoping to make a progress on my hurt/comfort Bingo card. So far, I have memory loss, gun shot wound, drowning. I was gonna add hypothermia. And naturally, car crash as the wild card.”

“You know you don’t have to make all of them in one story, right?”

“I just thought it’d be more fun,” Lionel snickered. “Let’s face it, you kinda are a walking Bingo black-out.”

John rolled his eyes.

“Tell me, Lionel,” he asked, eyes sparkling with mischief, “was your merman about to give me mouth-to-mouth?”

Even though it seemed impossible, Lionel’s ears turned even redder.


	2. Shoot Me Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naturally, Root is writing a Shoot fic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Many thanks to st_aurafina for the beta!

Nervous, you brush the satin of your gown with the tip of your finger. Your gown is just like you’ve always dreamt it. Tailored to your slender figure, it’s simple but exquisite: all white with delicate lace work around the bust and the thin shoulder straps. Your hair is tied up, with little white flowers pinned in the sophisticated bun. Your hair and make-up were done by a professional and when you looked at your reflection in the mirror this morning, you found yourself devastatingly gorgeous – or, as Sameen put it when she saw you: “ _Wow_ ”.

Sameen is now waiting for you next to the altar, and looking at you with the brightest smile. She refused to “look like a Disney princess”, so she opted for a black pair of suit pants and a matching vest, with a white shirt underneath, fitted at the waist, with quite a revealing neckline. A black fedora with fine grey lines completes her attire. She looks pretty devastating herself.

The ceremony is taking place in an old abandoned Gaelic church in County Galway in Ireland. Harold flew the whole team here for the occasion. Having a billionaire partner has its perks. It’s your first time in Ireland. Earlier today, you all went for a hike around the Connemara lakes. The landscape here in Ireland has that atmosphere of mystery. Ancient and untamed. And green, so, so green.

By Sameen’s side stands John, their witness, wearing his best tuxedo. You gotta give it to the big lug, he cleans up nice, even though he can’t seem to keep his bow tie straight. Facing them in front of the altar, Lionel looks pretty charming as well. He may not have John’s stature, but he knows how to tie a bow. Lionel got ordained just so that he could marry you and Sameen. He joked he should dress as a leprechaun for the ceremony, but luckily he gave up the idea and is wearing his own tux. He has a sprig of gentian in his front pocket that he picked during their walk this morning.

You slide your hand under Harold’s arm and you start walking down the aisle together.

The perfection of this moment brings a smile to your face. You’re feeling more emotional than usual. This is it, this is your life. Those are your people, and you’re getting married to Sameen.

* * *

“Ugh, just shoot me now,” Shaw muttered, pushing away Root’s laptop. “I’m overdosing on sugar here.”

They were sitting side by side on Root’s bed in her small quarters in the subway station that doubled as their headquarters. It had become a lot homier in her absence, Shaw noted. The bed had been upgraded with plump pillows and a skull-patterned comforter. There was now a bedside table with a purple lava lamp and a couple of books. On the orange shag rug by the bed, there were two identical pairs of bunny sleepers - one in much better shape than the others, for some reason.

Root chuckled. “Funny you’d say that. _Shoot_ is the name of our ship.”

She kissed Sameen on the cheek and took back her laptop. Shaw turned to face Root and raised an eyebrow. “We have a ship, now?”

“Not a sailing ship, you silly. A romantic ship. _Shaw slash Root_ , or _Shoot_ for short. You asked me what I was doing,” Root said patiently. “Well, I’m editing my Big Bang story and it’s a Shoot fic.”

Shaw rolled her eyes. “It’s for a Big Bang? You have ten thousand words of _that_?”

Root tilted her head, eyes sparkling with mischief. “Oh, Sweetie, it gets more... explicit, later on.”

Shaw quickly grabbed the laptop back from Root’s hands. “What didn’t you say so!”

She started scrolling through Root’s story, in search of the good parts. Now, that was more her jam. Though it was a little weird to read a story written in second person when you were the other character, Shaw had to admit Root had a certain talent with words. And quite an imagination, too.

Root slid closer to Shaw and rested her head on her shoulder. “Have you ever written anything?” She asked.

“ _Oh, Sweetie_ ,” Shaw replied, imitating Root’s voice. “I don’t need to write it, I lived it seven thousand times.” She put away the laptop and gently but firmly pinned Root to the bed. “I’d be happy to reenact each of them with you for real.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reminder that artist claim starts tomorrow, September 1st: https://poi-fanworks.dreamwidth.org/

**Author's Note:**

> Want to join Lionel in the Big Bang festivities, you have 2 days left to sign up: https://poi-fanworks.dreamwidth.org/27306.html


End file.
